7 dead, dozens injured as explosion hits kindergarten in china

BEIJING: An explosion struck the entrance to a kindergarten in eastern China, leaving 7 dead and 59 injured, state media reported.

State media said there were casualties, and videos purportedly from the scene and posted on social media showed children and adults lying on the ground, some bleeding.

Police officials said they are investigating and had no word yet on injuries or deaths.

Police said the blast struck at 4:50pm Thursday at the Chuangxin Kindergarten in the city of Fengxian in Jiangsu province.

A cellphone camera video posted on the website of the official People’s Daily newspaper showed more than a dozen people lying motionless in front of the kindergarten’s steel sliding gate, with clothing, shoes and other items strewn on the ground beside pools of blood.

It showed ambulances arriving and medics wheeling people into an emergency room.

It wasn’t clear whether the blast was an accident or had been deliberately set.

The newspaper Xiandaikuaibao on its website cited an unidentified witness as saying the explosive appeared to have been a bottle of cooking gas.

Calls to the kindergarten and local hospitals rang unanswered.

Kindergartens in China have been targeted before in apparent revenge attacks carried out by people bearing grudges against their neighbours and society.

That has prompted a tightening of security around many schools, with the posting of guards equipped with truncheons and the installation of gates and other barriers.

China maintains tight control over firearms and most attacks are carried out using knives, axes or homemade explosives.

State media said there were casualties, and videos purportedly from the scene and posted on social media showed children and adults lying on the ground, some bleeding.

Police officials said they are investigating and had no word yet on injuries or deaths.

Police said the blast struck at 4:50pm Thursday at the Chuangxin Kindergarten in the city of Fengxian in Jiangsu province.

A cellphone camera video posted on the website of the official People’s Daily newspaper showed more than a dozen people lying motionless in front of the kindergarten’s steel sliding gate, with clothing, shoes and other items strewn on the ground beside pools of blood.

It showed ambulances arriving and medics wheeling people into an emergency room.

It wasn’t clear whether the blast was an accident or had been deliberately set.

The newspaper Xiandaikuaibao on its website cited an unidentified witness as saying the explosive appeared to have been a bottle of cooking gas.

Calls to the kindergarten and local hospitals rang unanswered.

Kindergartens in China have been targeted before in apparent revenge attacks carried out by people bearing grudges against their neighbours and society.

That has prompted a tightening of security around many schools, with the posting of guards equipped with truncheons and the installation of gates and other barriers.

China maintains tight control over firearms and most attacks are carried out using knives, axes or homemade explosives.